Rotary type scrubbers have been used for decades to clean hard floor surfaces such as tile, linoleum, and concrete. These hard floor surfaces are often uneven which presents challenges to the scrubber and may result in a floor that is not cleaned in a uniform fashion. One approach to uneven floors is a gimbaled disc shaped scrub brush. The gimbaled design allows some degree of freedom to the brush allowing it to tilt in response to the uneven floor.
Another challenge to conventional floor cleaning is excess water consumption. In the past, it was a widely held belief that the more water that was applied to the floor, the cleaner it could be scrubbed. Within the last few years, this notion has fallen from favor as the floor cleaning industry has become more ecologically conscious. Various approaches have been developed by several floor equipment companies using rotary type scrubbers discussed below.
One approach to the challenge of excess water consumption was developed by the Tennant Company of Minneapolis, Minn. (www.tennantco.com) and is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,585,827; 6,705,332 and 6,705,662. Tennant calls this the FaST™ foam scrubbing technology. Tennant promotional material represents that this technology increases scrubbing productivity up to 30% for rotary type scrubbers. However, this rotary type scrubber still has splash skirts.
Yet another approach to the challenge of excess water consumption was developed by Windsor Industries of Denver, Colo. (www.windsorind.com) and is referred to as the Aqua-Mizer™ which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,025,835 entitled “Scrubbing Machine Passive Recycling”, issued on Apr. 11, 2006. Windsor promotional material represents that this technology increases run-time productivity by 35 to 50% per tank fill up. This system apparently is standard on all of the Windsor Saber Cutter models which are rotary type scrubbers. However, this rotary type scrubber still has splash skirts.
A different approach to the challenge of excess water consumption has been developed by Penguin Wax Co. Ltd., of Osaka, Japan (www.penguinwas.co.jp). Penguin offers a scrubber called the “Shuttlematic” model numbers SQ 200 and the SQ 240. Instead of the rotary motion of the aforementioned floor scrubbers, the Shuttlematic uses two flat pads positioned perpendicular to the direction of travel of the machine. Penguin promotional material represents that the Shuttlematic has longer run time, less power consumption and no water splash. The Shuttlematic does not have splash skirts. Another prior art shuttle type design without splash skirts is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,472,208. The shuttle motion of the '208 patent is different from the shuttle motion of the Shuttlematic. Notwithstanding the aforementioned prior art scrubbers, there is still a need for a floor cleaning machine that will conserve water and power and still do a good job scrubbing uneven hard floor surfaces.
Applicant has developed a different approach that conserves water and power and still does an excellent job scrubbing uneven hard floor surfaces. The present invention is an orbital scrubber. It is a marriage between some of the features found in prior art rotary motion scrubbers for hard floor surfaces and some of the features found in prior art orbital motion sanders for finishing wood floors. Applicant's assignee of the present invention, Clarke, a division of ALTO U.S. Inc. has previously sold an orbital motion sander for finishing wood floors, model number OBS 18, among others, as pictured on the advertisement and operator's manual included in the information disclosure statement. This orbital motion has been combined with some of the features of the prior art rotary motion Encore scrubbers also sold by Clarke, a division of ALTO U.S. Inc. Operator's manuals for various Encore rotary motion scrubbers are likewise included in the information disclosure statement.
In the mid-1960's, Clarke introduced an orbital motion scrubber for hard floor surfaces, model number BP-18-SP, which was on sale for several years during which more than a thousand units were sold. The BP-18 did a poor job cleaning uneven floors. Apparently, customers would make an initial purchase, but follow-up sales were difficult to close because of the uneven cleaning problem. Sales eventually dried up. The BP-18 had a high solution flow rate of approximately 1.1 gallons per minute at the full flow setting and therefore required splash skirts around the cleaning head assembly. In contrast, the present invention uses comparatively low cleaning solution flow rates and therefore no splash skirts are needed. The BP-18 was a failed attempt from the mid-1960's at an orbital motion scrubber.
The BP-18 failed for a number of reasons, but certainly one of the reasons was because the pad driver was a rigid piece of metal that did not flex in response to uneven features in the floor. As a result, the cleaning was uneven. The cleaning pad on the BP-18 was thin and thus easily damaged. (This prior art cleaning pad was about 0.19 inches thick). Furthermore, tools were required to make a pad change. Further, the BP-18 had a fixed weight of 35 pounds that applied this non-adjustable load on the cleaning head assembly. Notwithstanding this prior art orbital motion scrubber for hard floor surfaces, and prior art orbital motion sanders for finishing wood floors and prior art rotary motion scrubbers, there is still a need for a floor cleaning machine that will conserve water and power and still do a good job scrubbing uneven hard floor surfaces.
In some orbital scrubbers, the vibration dampening elements may fail due to vertical and horizontal stress caused by a number of factors including repeated lifting of the cleaning head assembly off the floor and inadvertent collisions with door jams, walls and other non-movable objects. The present invention includes at least one and preferably two stabilizer elements that reduce vertical and horizontal stress to upper vibration dampening elements.